Pfizer supports cardiovascular issues in Nigeria

… as experts groan over increasing cases of CVD in the country
Recent indications have emerged that Nigerians are now at great risk of developing cardiovascular (heart) disease which currently accounts for one-third of all deaths worldwide and has been shown to form the bulk of admissions in Nigerian hospitals. No doubt, this development follows the steady rise in incidence of hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity and other unhealthy lifestyle conditions in the country in recent times.
It is on this premise that medical experts during the 3rd cardiovascular summit organised by multinational pharmaceutical company Pfizer Specialties Nigeria Ltd in Lagos recently, are concerned giving the growing trend of the disease conditions been reported in the country even as economic management of this disease remains a herculean challenge.
Speaking at the summit, Enricco Liggeri, Country Manager, Pfizer Specialties stated that the company pledged to team up with the Nigerian medical professionals, the media and other stakeholders to ensure that cardiovascular health is given its deserved attention in the country in order to avert further deaths and ill health among Nigerians.
“We are pleased to note that care givers in the country are not only aware of the threats posed by CVD, there’s an overwhelming consensus among them on the need for urgent action to stem the current unacceptable growing incidence of the risk factors. CVDs and related morbidity/mortality are becoming a very relevant and underestimated issue in Africa,” Liggeri disclosed.
In an interview with BusinessDay, Olufemi Fasanmade, Consultant Endocrinologist, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, (LUTH) Idi-araba, Lagos said that cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an umbrella term that refers to any of a number of diseases affecting the heart and blood vessels. Fasanmade disclosed that the increase of CVD burden in Nigeria and other developing countries is due to prevalence of risk factors and lack of access to interventions.
While citing a recent study, he noted that five risk factors -tobacco use, hypertension, diabetes, abdominal obesity and dyslipidaemia were responsible for a great percent of risk of interruption of blood supply to part of the heart, causing heart cells to die in Africa.
"These data confirm that people from Africa who are exposed to these major cardiovascular risk factors are at risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) - interruption of blood flow to part of the heart as against other people across the globe. However, the more the risk factors, the greater the chance of developing cardiovascular disease and the effect is multiplicative,” Fasanmade concluded
For Peter Lansberg, a renowned cardiologist at Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, high cholesterol and obesity are dangerous CVD risk factors. Lansberg noted that the impact of cholesterol on the heart was neglected for almost 50 years until the development of the new “statin” group of cholesterol-lowering drugs a few years back.
According to him, CVD is not a ‘physiological’ disease but a condition caused by changes in lifestyle, which explains why it is closely linked with metabolic conditions like diabetes.
“Somebody once said 'genetic points the gun but environment pulls the trigger as the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in societies across the world is synonymous with changes in lifestyle and a switch from diets based on natural foods that are rich in high fibre, minerals and vitamins, low in calories, salt and sugar to diets based on fatty foods with high calories. However, going for obesity or high weight really translate to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease as the ability to low cholesterol would automatically lead to a reduction in CVD risk,” Lansberg revealed.
Lansberg hinted that since one doesn't see high cholesterol, people don’t see the need to seek medical attention. He however urged doctors to commence aggressive treatment of high cholesterol as soon as it is detected so as to prevent the complications of CVD.
Bringing the economic management of CVD in Nigeria to bear, Amam Mbakwem, a medical expert in the Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, LUTH, Lagos, revealed that based on the data of 98 patients hospitalised before 2009 at LUTH, the cost of hospitalisation was put at sixty eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty five Naira (N68, 765. 89), cost of extra medication- twenty five thousand, one hundred and ninety seven Naira (N25, 197), just to name but a few.
Mbakwem stated that following recent wave of increase of CVD expected from middle and low income countries, new and more expensive merging therapies are emerging. However, reducing the burden should be elementary as Nigerians should live healthy lifestyles.
No doubt, the summit has created an avenue for clinicians, specialists and other healthcare professionals to share ideas on the need for intensive lipid lowering, hypertension/diabetes dynamics and the patient's role in the management of CVD.
Given the increasing number of Nigerians developing CVDs, there is the need for national and international professional associations and non-governmental organisations to increase awareness of CVD by organizing seminars and workshops to educate Nigerians how to manage CVDs.
For Solomon Kadiri, consultant physician, University College Hospital, (UCH) Ibadan, “difficulties such as underfunding, poor infrastructure, inadequate access to cheap generic drugs and fixed dose combinations, and lack of public recognition and acceptance of the importance of cardiovascular disease continues to hinder the effective implementation of both population based health programmes and those aimed as people at high risk. Nigerians need education on healthier lifestyles such as weight reduction, smoking cessation, and greater physical activity. With this, the prevalence of people suffering from CVD would reduce,” Kadiri concluded.

.....BY Alexander Chiejina